Gayle - Fashions After the Era of Jane Austen: Ackermanns Repository of Arts

Fashions After the

Era of Jane Austen

Ackermann's Repository

OF

ARTS, LITERATURE, COMMERCE,

Manufactures, Fashions, and Politics

1821 - 1828

Designed and Edited by

Jody Gayle

Copyright 2015, Jody Gayle

Publications of the Past, Inc.

PO Box 233

Columbia, MO 65205

All rights in this book are reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.

For further information email

jody@jodygayle.com

or visit

www.JodyGayle.com

ISBN-13: 978-09884001-3-9

E-Book Edition: ISBN: 978-0-9884001-4-6

Cover: Promenade Dress from Ackermanns Repository of Arts , August 1826

Glossary: Dover book, Ackermann's Costume Plates

Acknowledgements

My sincerest gratitude to the Philadelphia Museum of Art Library for permission to reintroduce the two-hundred-year-old Ackermann's Repository of Arts to a whole new group of readers.

A special thank you to the authors of Regency era fiction, who continue to make the society, customs and fashions of early 19th Century England vivid and vital to several generations of readers.

This book was inspired by the work of Candice Hern. She offers fashion plates for her fans, and this fueled my passion for this project. She has one of the best websites for Regency era information. Answers to almost any question about the Regency era can be found at Candices website, which will also direct you to other resources. Please visit her web site: www.candicehern.com

It would be mortifying to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of a man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire... "

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

In the time of Jane Austen, the functions of fashionable dress were to draw attention to the wearer, to define his/her social position, to show who he/she is and what he/she is doing. The secondary functions of fashionable dress were modesty, protection against the weather, and appeal to the opposite sex. Fashion can be defined as a general style of dress appropriate for a particular person to wear at a certain time of day, on a special occasion, or for a specific purpose. Fashion is a complex facet of society.

To study the fashions in England during the nineteenth century, one must dedicate time to the highly popular publication the Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics . The Ackermanns Repository of the Arts was a monthly British periodical published from 1809-1828 by Rudolph Ackermann. It was a very popular nineteenth century publication devoted to the study of the arts, literature, commerce, manufacturing, politics and fashion and each issue consists of 60-80 pages an issue. It included a significant amount of information provided by the readers, such as personal, poems, opinion pieces and general interest articles.

The fashion plates in the Repository could be compared to the contemporary magazine Vanity Fair the Vanity Fair of the late Georgian era. The Repository of Arts created an archive of superb hand-colored plates depicting examples of the latest womens fashion. The publication was a guide to dressmakers and their fashionable clients. The fashion descriptions for the plates included details of the type of clothing shown, its style, cut, trim, fabrics used, color, style and accessories.

The fashion plates from the Repository of the Arts are well documented on the internet, but few illustrations include the original accompanying text published with the fashion plate. It seems sad that the words of the past are being forgotten. Im sure there are others, like me, who want to read the fashion descriptions. The illustrations need to be described in the language of their time, because the words add a whole new depth to the illustrations, and most importantly, a glimpse into the culture.

Two hundred years after the era of Jane Austen we are still delighted and inspired by the fashions of nineteenth century England. The illustrations in the Repository of Arts magazine were mainly for the haute ton or the very wealthy; however, they still drove what was considered fashionable dress at other levels of society. Jane Austen may or may not have sewn or dressed in these fashions, but she certainly was aware of the Repository of Arts magazine during her time.

The intent of this pictorial is to offer images exclusively from the Ackermann's Repository of Arts . This provides readers the opportunity to study the fashion plates and read the original accompanying descriptions. It is important to note the descriptions are as they were in the magazine. The punctuation, spelling, sentence structure and even word usage in some instances are vastly different than what we use today; even changing from issue to issue. Considerable effort has been directed at being precise and providing the text as it was originally written. There are many words that were spelled differently throughout the years. Examples include: head-dress, headdress, demi-train, demi-traine, needle-work and needlework. No changes were made to keep the book consistent. The fashion etchings have also not been altered.

It is left to the reader to make their own analyses of the trends and draw their own conclusions from the material provided regarding fashions presented in the Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics.

I do have to note that some of these illustrations are very old, so images aren't necessarily as clear as we may want. Even when the reproductions are imperfect, I think they still add to the idea of traveling back in time.

Ac k ermann ' s Re p ository of A rts

The following article was first published in the first issue of the Repository of Arts: January 1809.

This plate is a representation of Mr. Ackermanns Shop, No. 101, Strand, and is the commencement of a series of plates intended to exhibit the principal shops of this great metropolis, in the same manner as the Microcosm of London represents the interior of the public buildings. It will afford the opportunity of entering into a partial detail of the different manufactures that are exposed in them for sale; and we flatter ourselves will form an useful, as well as interesting, part of our work. This shop stands upon part of the court-yard in front of which was Beaufort-House, formerly a town residence of the noble family whose name it bore, and was one of the great number of mansions which, at no very distant period, lined the bank of the Thames from Templebar to the city of Westminster. The noble and lofty apartments of the house, which commences at the back part of the shop, and a fine oak staircase of considerable dimensions, hear a testimony of its former magnificence. After it had ceased to be the residence of the Beaufort family, it was converted into the Fountain Tavern, a house of great celebrity in former days, and was remarkable from the circumstance of Lord Lovat stopping there to take in refreshment on his way from Westminster-Hall to the Tower, and writing with his diamond ring the following couplet upon a pane of glass in the great room: